A momentous $2.3 million gift has been pledged by the Grosfeld Family Fund to the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute (MPI) to help patients—children, adolescents and adults—who would benefit from psychoanalysis but cannot afford it. To this end, the fund will disburse money each year for the next seven years to support analyses. The donor, James Grosfeld, stated the fund's mission:
We felt that it was a problem that many potential analysands cannot have a full psychoanalytic experience with competent and experienced psychoanalysts because they cannot afford it. Our goal with the Grosfeld Family Fund for Psychoanalysis is to make it possible for these people to have the help they need. As a result of effective treatment, the quality of life for these individuals will be improved and they can be helped to reach their full potential. Their future contributions will enrich our entire community and allow us all to reap the positive benefits that psychoanalysis can produce.
To our knowledge this gift is unique and has never been available in any psychoanalytic institute in the world. This fund is a gift that will “keep on giving” for years to come as the recipients of these grants will in time undoubtedly make their own contributions to the welfare of their families and their communities.
Most of the eligible applicants with demonstrable financial need are now already in psychotherapy with a Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute graduate analyst in good standing.
Deanna Holtzman, Ph.D., serves as the chair for academic programs and for the Grosfeld Family Fund for Psychoanalysis.
Patients in an existing analysis are not eligible for this fund. The fund is not available for candidate analyses or for control analyses. As MPI received more requests than could be accommodated, a fair and transparent lottery was held to determine which applicants would be selected. MPI keeps a list of applicants not selected who will be considered when and if places become available. The process will be completely confidential.
“In this world of ours, efforts that help to reduce emotional problems, symptoms, and other difficulties need to be celebrated,” said David Dietrich, president of MPI. “The Grosfeld Family Fund for Psychoanalysis is an extremely generous gift that will provide for powerfully beneficial clinical analyses for many individuals and will significantly reduce human suffering. We deeply appreciate this groundbreaking gift from the Grosfeld family to support psychoanalytic treatment. We are grateful for their vision and financial support for patients who cannot afford psychoanalysis. We hope that this gift will inspire other benefactors in Michigan and throughout the United States to establish similar funds.”
There are currently eighteen analyses of four or five times a week that are under way.